Chinese Food

Mar 04, 2013 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Ambient intimacy

While I’m working for Tourism Victoria, I’m not writing Victorian restaurant reviews or about Victorian product more generally on this blog. This is very much self-imposed. There is too much scope for conflicts of interest. I can hardly accuse a TV show’s kitchen of sucking while having to front up

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Nov 26, 2011 | Post by: Phil Lees 5 Comments

May contain traces of glutton.

Spotted on a packet of pork and cabbage dumplings, Footscray

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Apr 30, 2011 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

Indentured Labour: Camy Shanghai Dumpling House’s secret, part 2

Last time that I mentioned Camy Shanghai Dumpling House, I conjectured that the popularity was due to its open secret status and cheapness. At least now we know where the cheapness comes from: not paying their staff. From the Herald-Sun: Mr Chang worked 13-hour days from 9.30am-10.30pm with only five-minute

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Jan 26, 2010 | Post by: Phil Lees 8 Comments

“It’s a minefield even for Asians”

I had dinner on Saturday at Poon’s Chinese Restaurant in Barkly Street, Footscray. It was the worst Cantonese meal that I’ve eaten in Melbourne. The service was gracious and friendly considering that they were packed and it was dirt cheap. The meal was a mistake but not an expensive one

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Oct 19, 2009 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

Xiao Long Bao in the Gastrodesert: Little House, Bundoora

I think that it was Australian food writer John Lethlean who labelled the region north of Heidelberg in Melbourne as a gastrodesert. On the surface, it’s gastronomically grim up north; the oleaginous wasteland of charcoal chicken and Smorgy’s. People speak with fondness of shopping mall food courts and premixed bourbon

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May 04, 2009 | Post by: Phil Lees 4 Comments

Four Seasons Claypot Rice

Tasty lens flare When there is a queue of twenty people out the front, take the hint. It is either very good or super cheap. Most of the time, I have a plan to eat my way around but after knocking back a handful of dumpling meals, I was satisfied

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May 01, 2009 | Post by: Phil Lees 3 Comments

Meandering through Sheung Wan

Just to avoid the impression that I did nothing but eat dumplings in Hong Kong, I also spent a few lazy hours wandering the streets of Sheung Wan in a dumpling and pork induced stupor, planning which dumpling place I’d hit next and remembering dumplings past. Sheung Wan is where

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Apr 27, 2009 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

Lin Heung, Hong Kong

Lin Heung is proof that the advice from random strangers on the Internet is better than anything published elsewhere. A commenter whom I’ve never seen before mentioned this dim sum joint amongst a handful of the sort of hawker stalls that pique my interest, so I decided to hit it

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